BUSY WEEKEND OF TOP QUALITY DRAMA WAS A TOTAL SELL-OUT
THE 63rd Wicklow ICA Drama Festival played out in front of packed houses over three sold-out nights at Glenealy Village Hall last weekend.
With ten top quality one-act plays and two sketches, the festival adjudicator faced a very tricky task in passing her judgement and distributing the awards.
The Premier Award for the best group was won by Coolgreany Drama Group for their production of ‘ Talk to Me Like the Rain and Let Me Listen’ by Tennessee Williams. The Molly Moore Shield for runner-up group was won by St Patrick’s Dramatic Society with ‘Man On The Floor’, a one-act comedy by Neil Simon which had the audience laughing from start to finish. Kilrush Drama Group’s ‘Bar and Ger’ by Geraldine Aron was placed third and there was great praise heaped on young actors David Dee and Olivia Matthews.
The Condon Cup for ICA group went to Delgany ICA and their one-act comedy ‘Whose Wedding Is It Anyway?’ by Margaret Bower.
The Adjudicator’s Award went to Ashford ICA for the ensemble play ‘Clara’s On The Curtains’, a one-act comedy by Arthur Lovegrove.
Mary Rigney of Dalkey Players’ collected the Norah Ferns Trophy for Most Appropriate Costumes for the costumes in ‘For Whom The Southern Belle Tolls.’
Delgany Dramatic Society’s efforts to set the scene for ‘ The Exiles’ by Jeffrey Grenfell-Hill were rewarded with the award for Best Set.
Coolgreany Drama Society went home with an set of awards as Ned Dempsey won Best Director, Paula D’Arcy won Best Actress and Carl Nuzum won the runner-up actor award.
There were acting awards too for St Patrick’s Dramatic Society, as Michael Stokes was named the Best Actor and Joanne Rogers was the best runner-up actress.
Merit Awards were won by Beth Holm- es (Delgany ICA), Nick Harvey (Dalkey Players), Aisling Finn (Square One), Claire Timmons (Ashford ICA) and Breda Banville and Gillian Dunlop (Camross Drama Group).
The Terri Connolly Cup for Best Sketch presented to St Patrick’s Dramatic Society for their production of ‘DMV Tyrant’ by Christopher Durang. There was delight for the cast too as Hilda Grace won Best Performance and Carina Cummins won a merit award.
The Adjudicator’s Award in the Sketch section went to Peter Robbie who wrote Delgany Drama Society’s offering ‘ The Life and Soul’. Theresa Bradley who played Satan won runner-up performance and Don Bagley, who played God, was the deserving winner of a merit award.
After three fantastic evenings of drama, Wicklow ICA Federation President Madge Kenny has sent her thanks all those involved in the running of yet another highly-successful festival.